


Aftermath

by Kaesa



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abusive Moirallegiance, Canon Backstory, Embedded Images, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-03 23:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1759947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaesa/pseuds/Kaesa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Latula finds her matesprit bleeding on the floor of his hive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the 2014 HSWC bonus round 1, and posted [here](http://hs-worldcup.dreamwidth.org/18819.html?thread=3249027#cmt3249027), for the prompt: "Remember when Mituna had his accident, and Latula found him in the aftermath?"

Latula's fresh from the Land of Rails and Halfpipes, her heart pounding in her ears, her board's wheels still spinning, her thinkpan full of awesome thoughts and rad new moves. Her matesprit was going to be with her today, but this evening he woke up on the wrong side of the recuperacoon and his worry sponge was completely full of voices of gloom and doom, and he wasn't up to it.  
  
That's okay, though. Everyone has bad days sometimes, especially an Heir of Doom. And now that the session's clearly failed, sometimes it's hard even for Latula to keep her sense of purpose. He's probably spent the day with his moirail; however many prophecies of doom poor Mituna's burdened with, a good feelings jam always seems to make his head clearer. She's looking forward to talking to him about the perfect Misty Flip she executed, and she's gotta show him her Flamingo next time they're out together.  
  
But she finds him lying in his hive, in a pool of honey-colored blood, and the world stops like it just sped off a steep ramp and into a brick wall.  
  
"Mituna!" she shouts, and he doesn't move. She scoops him up in her arms, and fuck, he's limp and bleeding, but he's still breathing.  
  
She has to remind herself to keep breathing, then, too. "Mituna, oh shit, what _happened,_ please be all right, please be all right, you better be all right or else... I don't know. I don't know what else." She fumbles around for her first aid kit, which is bright pink and neon yellow and came with a subscription to _GameGrl._ She and Merrygamz alchemized it into something less appropriate to healing scrapes and bruises and more suited for battlefield medicine, although hell if she knows how to use any of this stuff besides the bleed stoppers and the disinfectant grubs.  
  
It's all she can do right now, though. It's hard to tell where all the blood is coming from -- it seems to be leaking out his eyes and nose, mostly -- but whatever happened to him, it looks like he clawed his arm up pretty bad. "Mituna, you jerk, you've gotta wake up," she says as she props him up against the hive wall. She attaches one of the disinfectant grubs to the worst of the gashes (a cheery red one with purple hearts and YOU GO GRL on its shell -- he will complain, but he won't mean it, he never does) and binds the rest.  
  
There's something in her eye, and Latula is a little glad he's not conscious because anyone might think she was crying, which is so fucking weak, and that's definitely not what these tears are at all. "Mituna, come on," she says shakily. "Your pity means the world to me, you have to open your eyes or something, give a girl some hope." She puts a finger on his wrist, and takes his blood rhythm, but it doesn't mean much to her; damnit, she's a skater, not a doctor.  
  
Latula's been straining to hear his shallow breathing, watching every movement he makes -- and every movement he doesn't -- but something imperceptible changes in the hive. Is it a creaking sound? A movement at the corner of her eye? Perhaps she feels the vibration of a footstep on the floor? Whatever it is, her intuition tells her there is danger.  
  
Swiftly, she stands and pins the interloper against the wall, bracing her skateboard against the grubfucking nooksniffer's throat. "What the fuck did you do to my matesprit I'll kill you with my bare claws, your thinkpan will look GREAT dashed all over my injury panel and your --" She trails off. "Oh, it's you. Hi, Kurloz."  
  
Kurloz gives her a slow, stitched smile. Goddamn he is creepy. She never could see what Mituna saw in that guy. He mimes at her.  
  
  
  
"Were you here? What the hell happened?"  
  
He gives her a broad shrug. Not helpful. But he shows her the bottle of mind honey he's apparently brought for Mituna.  
  
That'll certainly wake him up, but it will probably just make him that much worse. "Not a good idea," she says. He shrugs again. "He was all gloom and doom this morning, said he'd pay you a visit. Guess the papping and shooshing didn't go so well, huh?" she asks.  
  
Kurloz looks apologetic. He points at Mituna, and mimes again.  
  
  
  
"Uh. Yeah, that clears everything up," she says. If Kurloz thinks that wizard guy is cool in any way, shape, or form, he is just objectively wrong. "So what actually --"  
  
But Mituna's eyes snap open, and he screams. "AAAAH! FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK OW FUCK EVERYTHING HURTHS WHY."  
  
"Mituna!" She hugs him.  
  
"You're crusching me," he whines. "Owww."  
  
"What happened to you?"  
  
He considers this for a long moment. "Everything," he says, finally.  
  
"Yeah?" she asks. "Like what?"  
  
"I. I don't. I --" He's on the verge of saying something when suddenly his expression changes. "OW FUCK NO NO NO NO STOP OW." He trails off, then looks ashamed. "...Sorry."  
  
"Hey. It's okay, you don't have to talk about it right now," she says, gently. She kisses him on the cheek, bracing herself for the taste of his blood. "I'm here now."  
  
"Thanks," he says. He tries to get up, but his balance is off, and Latula catches him before he falls and hits his head again.  
  
"Hey, just rest up for now, okay?"  
  
"Okay," he says, still looking disoriented.  
  
"Don't worry," she says, trying to be soothing. She has no idea what the hell happened, but poor Mituna's got enough doom in his thinkpan to deal with, and she has to be the optimist here. "It's okay, Mituna. Everything is gonna be rad."  
  
She hopes desperately that she's telling the truth.


End file.
